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Your Nissan Versa is trying to kill you, with interior toxins
Every couple of years, a study comes out identifying the myriad of chemicals being absorbed by your lungs during your daily commute. Surprisingly, these studies don't focus on emissions, but rather turn their scientific eye towards the materials that make up the interior of your car.
The Ecology Center, a non-profit environmental group, performed tests utilizing an X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) device that can measure "the elemental composition of any material" and came away with the ten best and worst vehicles to be stuck inside. The Chevy Cobalt, Chrysler PT Cruiser and Honda Odyssey take top honors for having the fewest toxins, while the Nissan Versa, Chevy Aveo and Scion xB are the worst offenders.
The tests isolate toxins like, arsenic, bromine, chlorine and mercury, found in everything from the carpet to the dash board, but the Ecology Center didn't identify what the degree of risk is while sitting in start and stop traffic.
We've heard about this issue before, and while some maintain that it's a legitimate health concern, others are more skeptical.
You can check out all 20 best and worst vehicles after the jump.
[Source: HealthyCar.org via Autopia]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kowell 9:22AM (3/20/2007)
Somehow I don't think this is gonna change my plans to buy a Versa this summer...
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GrindingAxis 9:33AM (3/20/2007)
Somehow I don't think this is going to change my genetic pre-disposition to whatever I am genetically pre-disposed to get. This is another JDPower type site that is trying to get its hands into the pockets of automakers so they can make more money. As an automaker, if you don't pay them and subject to their standards, whether they are legit or not, they use their study to black-ball your product.
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DriftPunch 9:28AM (3/20/2007)
I wonder how long the outgassing/solvent evap period lasts on a new car...
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AdrianM 9:58AM (3/20/2007)
In Nissan Versa, the car BREAKS YOU!
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Paul Tan 9:59AM (3/20/2007)
This explains how Hiro Nakamura got his powers. YATTA!!!
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CaliberSRT4 10:05AM (3/20/2007)
The Versa already stinks with it's looks.
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James 10:24AM (3/20/2007)
Makes almost no sense that the xB is listed as a worst offender, yet no mention of the xA despite almost identical interiors.
Also, how did the v50 and s40 score different marks? Interiors are identical except for the cargo volume.
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J 10:34AM (3/20/2007)
That would be a sweet band name. Interior Toxins.
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Brian 11:04AM (3/20/2007)
ya-w-w-w-n.. More environmental whacko kookism...
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r129 12:21PM (3/20/2007)
Interesting, 5 out of the top 10 worst offenders are Korean built cars. I remember reading in various auto reviews over the years that the Korean new car smell is distinct, and not in a good way.
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Chet 3:40PM (3/20/2007)
Do these studies look at what's in the air or what transfers with physical contact? No... so WHERE'S THE RISK? This study doesn't serve the public, it misleads it. Publicity-grabbing money-grubbing junk science. Pay no attention to the losers behind the press release...
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rdm 3:17PM (3/20/2007)
The "new car smell" in our 2 year old Kia Sportage is, well, still reminiding us that it's trying to be new! This is THE sole complaint my wife and I have aobut this vehicle - awful plastic smell that, quite frankly, used to give a headache if you didn't open the windows for awhile. The smell is the only complaint we have about an otherwise outstanding vehicle. Added this to our JD Power survey, but will probably never make it to the folks at Kia!
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The Penguin 3:30PM (3/20/2007)
Like a Versa is really going to kill you. I may not be a big fan of the Japanese, but this is stupid.
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andrew 9:17PM (3/20/2007)
I figured I'd give a update for the Scion xB. I've had it for 1.5 years now and I am alive! Although I think maybe my own gasses nuetralized everything! Get real, they didn't even measure the air quality, just what the material is made of. On a side note I get 35+mpg. I wish they wouldn't publish irrelevant studies to "protect" us, all they do is confuse people and sway markets. But they are just doing their job, which is to do just that.
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Spule4 5:55PM (3/21/2007)
XRF (which I have used) samples and bulk analysis don't tell us much folks outside of composition of the material. You gotta look at how the chemicals enter the body and the actual contamination generation rates.
Also, look at their chemicals: Chorine and Chromium....look at the toxicology of long term exposure to the two, and make up your mind on which is worse?
Also no mention of Cr3 or Cr6, what is the hazard of a Cr6 plated seat belt clip in your car? The liquid chromic acid (Cr6) in the dip tank at the factory is antoher whole matter.
Also, there are some others that are missing, formaldehyde, common in carpet and glue making which will off-gas over time. Oh yeah, you cannot check for that with an XRF gun in your photo.
Post some air sampling results for facts folks, how many PPM, mg/m3 etc are we breathing as the car sits in the hot day? Wipe sample results for dermal contact?
Anyone?
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Kmbr 1:01PM (4/03/2007)
"3. Somehow I don't think this is going to change my genetic pre-disposition to whatever I am genetically pre-disposed to get. This is another JDPower type site that is trying to get its hands into the pockets of automakers so they can make more money. As an automaker, if you don't pay them and subject to their standards, whether they are legit or not, they use their study to black-ball your product."
I would like to point out that Chevy, Nissan, and Suzuki are on both lists... (just being objective)
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Kmbr 5:06PM (4/03/2007)
I can't let it die... here's another thought
(besides the reminder to beware anything with a sensational title)
I did some digging into the "HealthyCar.org" website (the basis for the article you read) and Versa stands thus:
Door trim (soft) Lead: 24ppm
Exterior window seal Lead: 10ppm
Front seat (front) Lead: 137ppm
Front seat (rear) Lead: 0ppm (How can it have 137ppm on the front seat, but 0 on the back seat when they are made of the same materials... riddle me this - a difference, yes, a high line and a nothing... no)
Steering wheel Lead: 29ppm
Now, US Consumer Product Safety Commission (http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/pbcdtoys.html) on toys...
" CPSC staff screened the 12 products obtained for total lead and cadmium. In CPSC's experience, products containing less than 200 ppm lead and 100 ppm cadmium do not release appreciable amounts of dislodgeable or extractable metals, and would not be a lead or cadmium health hazard as a result of reasonably foreseeable consumer handling or use. Eight of the 12 products tested exhibited levels of lead above the screening levels (200 ppm lead and 100 ppm cadmium). "
I went back to HealthyCar.org and read their sampling methods... They specified that they tried to take samples in similar places in every car, but here is where there is a potential for error (even though they state the margin of error built into their detector, which is a whopping 68%...) they did not specify that they sampled more than once per area for each car or that they sampled multiple cars from each line (so likely they sampled only one Versa, and in only one place per itemized area...)
Basically, that wouldn't fly in any peer-reviewed setting. There are anomalies in everything, even individuals off an assembly line. There are also anomalies in each individual... maybe they tested an area on one car's steering wheel that was particularly high for whatever reason, but the same spot on a competing car was particularly low... Basically, I'm saying the methods they expressed in their PDF are flawed (read as, that would never have flown for my undergraduate senior project... I would never have even dreamt of offering such methods).
There's my 2 cents...
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